


Lines of Perversion

by FandomJumper (littlelostcat)



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Accidental Voyeurism, First Time, M/M, matchmaker zelenka
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2020-05-16 01:55:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19308262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlelostcat/pseuds/FandomJumper
Summary: McKay give Sheppard a new Ancient device to test out, Sheppard does as told ... then keeps using the device, even when he knows he should stop.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'd, so all mistakes are my own.
> 
> WARNING: voyeurism with possible mild dub-con, although while writing I didn't intend that.

John’s days are usually pretty routine, outside of off world travel of course. He:  
      - Gets up  
      - Does his hair  
      - Runs with Ronon  
      - Does his hair  
      - Has breakfast with his team  
      - Makes a joke about science and/or Rodney  
      - Regrets the joke even though he laughs because laughing at the man who saves his life on a weekly basis isn’t the smartest move, even for a Lt. Col.  
      - Wanders the halls  
      - Checks himself out in the mirror  
      - Takes a jumper out (usually Jumper 3, no one knows why)  
      - Drags Rodney out of the lab/jumper/abandoned part of the city for lunch  
      - Does hair  
      - Spars with Teyla  
      - Avoids Ronon  
      - Spars with Ronon  
      - Limps to the steam room that only he, Zelenka, and Rodney know about (the one on the third floor, not the other one, not that there is another one)  
      - Does hair  
      - Walks around some more; usually past his own office  
      - Target practice  
      - Pops into the infirmary to check on whomever had a bad spill or bad mission, or just to see how his second living quarters are doing  
      - Has dinner  
      - Goes to bed 

All in all, it’s a pretty action-filled day and he doesn’t know how he gets it all in. But he does, because that’s what military commanders do. 

John huffed laugh at McKay’s email, detailing “Sheppard’s Ridiculous Schedule”. The addendums at the bottom read, _Not necessarily in this order_ and _Some items are done repeatedly_. He tapped his headset and waited for the aggravated squawk on the other end.

“You know I don’t do my hair that much,” he said in lieu of a greeting. 

“I know nothing of the sort,” McKay replied and John could hear a slight commotion and muffled voices in the background which meant McKay was in the lab. “No one can have that hair without some kind of constant upkeep.”

“So, is this your way of saying you want me to come and,” he paused, “ ‘Drag Rodney out of the lab for lunch’?”

Rodney hummed and John could hear the smirk, “Oh no, I imagining you have a few things more to do before lunch.”

“Such as avoiding Ronon or going to the infirmary for fun? And, I don’t consider the infirmary my second living quarters. Or maybe you want me to reply with what your schedule looks like? I mean, at least I have a list. Yours would just be insulting coworkers and MacGyvering Ancient tech.” He bit the side of his mouth at Rodney’s response then ignored it, which he knew would aggravate McKay even more. “So was there a reason you sent the email or were you just trying to pick a fight?”

“Yeah, I have a device for you,” and, John noted, Rodney sounded overly pleased with said device.

John rolled his chair and propped his legs on his desk … in his office which he was very much in and did not walk past every day. Just, you know, walked past occasionally. 

“Yeah? Why don’t you use it? You have the gene.” It was an old argument that never felt old, mainly because Rodney always had a new and colorful reason why it had to be John and not himself. 

“Because,” Rodney sighed then groaned, John imagined the other man slowly rising from underneath one of the lab consoles and pitied him. Knees were sons of bitches. “The last device I turned on turned Radek into a mute with a yellow tail and, if you recall, he broke three laptops with that tail. Besides I have other very important, very vital things to be doing.”

In the background Radek yelled something that made McKay mumble an apology that lacked both sincerity or direction. Story of their relationship, really. 

John nodded, even though Rodney couldn’t see, “Yeah, I’ll be by later to turn it on. After I do my hair and go to the steam room.”

“And you’ll need to keep it,” Rodney added quickly. “We think it’s a device that requires the user to process information. Or something. You know, we assume.”

“Really? That’s a bit specific for a device you know nothing about. What am I? One of your lab rats?” John asked, ignoring the way his voice rose with the last word.

“No. No, no, no. You’re more like a lab monkey,” Rodney replied with some arrogance, “And if you play with the nice, ancient device I’ll give you a banana. Or, you know, a jumper upgrade.”

John rolled his eyes and double tapped the earpiece. They both knew he’d be in Rodney’s office within the hour. They also both knew he’d figure out the device in the time it took Rodney to drink a cup of coffee. John grinned and pushed the paperwork from, huh, two months ago to the side . If no one had asked for the reports yet, another day or week couldn’t hurt. 

True to his ’schedule’, after he meandered (he didn’t wander, that implied he didn’t have specific places to be, he did) down to the labs for Rodney, who he found crouched over a rectangular object that kept flickering blue when he poked it. He heard Rodney hmm then crouch closer and tap it, watched Rodney draw one leg back as if ready to fall back before touching it with two fingers.

“Usually you have to touch,” John whispered from behind him. Watching Rodney jerk to a freeze had rapidly become a favorite pastime of his and, yeah, still hilarious. Rodney stopped, his fingers hovering in the air and his back arched awkwardly. 

Equally as quiet Rodney replied, “Yeah but if you don’t know what it does, it’s better to let it flicker than kill you.”

He straightened and would have knocked into John had John not stepped to the side. Rodney sat back and stretched his muscles, cringing when back and shoulders popped in rapid succession. He flicked a glance at the clock on his screen then looked back up, “Done wandering?”

“I don’t wander,” John answered, looking around for the device de jour. His eyes widened when Rodney handed him a black bag. 

“You do. And here.” He saved the data and shut the tablet down before handing it to John as well. “This should have all of the data we have on the device as of now. We think it’s some kind of viewer but we aren’t sure if it’s city-related, jumper-related, person-related.”

“All three would be kind of cool,” John noted, as they started walking out of the lab.

“Well, two out of three would be cool. I’m not sure how comfortable I am with big brother knowing everything I do. And neither would some people on this expedition, if you catch me drift.”

“I’m not big brother,” John replied with a roll of his eyes. “But it would be helpful for exploring the city. Imagine all the work you could do form your lab while someone else was ankle-deep in sea water.”

Rodney seemed to consider this with a nod, “I mean, it wouldn’t be as much fun and I wouldn’t be able to get to them when they inevitably broke something but…” he trailed off as Teyla and Ronon approached and they headed for lunch. 

 

John kept the bag on him the rest of the day, a little reminder on the floor by his chair. He finished his reports, in _his office_ might he add. Where he had been twice. _Twice_. In one day. He drafted a reply to McKay’s email with a schedule of his own then scheduled it to send at just after midnight. He smirked, no way was he sending that during normal working hours. And no way was he going to be anywhere near his computer when it set. 

But he knew Rodney would be and that was enough. 

He took the device to his room, kicked his shoes off, and stretched out on his bed. He pulled the device out and turned it from side to side. It looked like one of the VR machines from those old 80’s movies; matte black and goggles of some kind. They were big enough to cover above and below the eye, with an open space to breathe. There were a series of lights along one side, one glowed blue when he touched it. He set it on the bed and the light flickered off, then back on when he picked it up. The headband was adjustable but made out of a weird plastic polymer, he’d have to find out more from McKay but it felt like a more solid type of jello. Or something. He made a mental note, then ignored his tablet and the data file. He wanted to get an idea of what he was looking at before he read anything about it. He poked it, remembering Rodney’s warning about the flickering and the killing, then tapped his earpiece to confirm he wouldn’t go blind.

“No,” Rodney replied sounding both annoyed, and overly confident for someone who didn’t know much about the device, “No blindness. Good-bye.”

John licked his lips, leaned back against the wall, and slid the goggles into place. Almost immediately he felt the device secure around his head and he was transported to the science lab. He looked down and saw his hands and feet, saw Radek in the corner and McKay back at his bench. John glanced in the reflection of the closed doors and saw nothing, just the scientists.

Huh. 

He walked around the lab and reached out to touch one of the Ancient devices on Rodney’s Do Not Touch!!!! table, and watched his hand pass right through. He could look but not touch, he thought. 

Huh, again. 

He was beginning to see some practical applications. This would be great if they could transfer someone onto a Wraith hive ship. He walked behind Rodney and looked down at the screen, equations and a simulation were running that were lightyears beyond him, but he could see it as clearly as if he were in Rodney’s lab. He could smell the coffee sitting beside Rodney as well, but couldn’t feel the heat from the steam.

John stood back and thought of Ronon, found himself almost immediately in the gym with Ronon and a bunch of marines. He rolled his eyes, it was nearly ten o’clock at night and he knew for a fact that Simmons and Jones were scheduled for an early rotation tomorrow. He made another note to send a memo about late night work outs and early mornings rotation. Ronon was happy to play anytime of day. He also made a note that the goggles could find people with and without the Ancient gene, although he’d need to explore that more. He hadn’t been thinking about McKay when he put them on, well, except he had been because of the email. 

Speaking of memos and emails, he thought about Lorne and found himself on the north pier. Lorne was crouched on the ground with one paintbrush behind his ear and another in his mouth, he was staring intently at central spire. John got down on all fours beside him and tried to see what a painter would see. Nope. All he saw was his city, but it sure was a hell of a view from the here. 

Okay, he thought _off_ and the goggles loosened. He glanced at the clock and saw he’d been ‘gone’ for about forty minutes. He could pull up people. He slipped the goggles back on and found himself back in McKay’s lab. So the goggles had a starting point, he thought, and that was McKay’s lab. That made sense, the goggles had been there long enough that they probably imprinted on the lab. Or something. Could a device imprint on a specific location? Was imprint the right word?

His next thought was of the commissary, and instantly he was there. The tables were mostly empty, a few airmen drinking coffee that looked as bland as their expressions and a few scientists who were huddled in a corner with a laptop and a carafe of what looked like substantially better coffee. He thought of the gate room and saw the skeleton crew trying to look busy. Chuck was working on a Rubik’s cube and Sharlene was reading a magazine, presumably from the last Daedalus run.

He pulled the glasses off when he heard McKay’s voice buzz in his head. He caught a glimpse of McKay’s lab before he pulled them off and added a mental note at how quick the device reacted.

“Sheppard!” McKay squawked. 

“McKay,” John mimicked. 

Rodney didn’t rise to the bait, just sighed, so John slid the goggles back in place. He was looking at Rodney who was looking … smug? “Any work on the device?”

“Yeah but I think,” he looked around to see if he could find what was giving McKay that smug look, “I think I need more time. They could be a cool security device but I need more time. So far I can see anywhere in the city but there’s some more things I want to check out. ”

“Copy,” Rodney replied, already done and tapping his headset. John watched him smile to himself and start shutting down and packing up. Then … was McKay humming? 

John took the goggles off, again, and set them aside. He turned on the tablet and finally went over the files McKay had sent over on the goggles. Not much, but enough to say that McKay and crew were considering how to replicate the technology if it proved useful. He added his notes and made recommendations for future experiments and possibilities. Then he glanced down because an itch was beginning to tickle at his neck. 

Rodney always said he was like a cat with nine lives and … well … curiosity and cats and all. He ran his finger over the side of the goggles and tried to ignore the question in his mind. 

Because. 

Here’s the thing. John Sheppard is not a pervert, and he has lines that he most certainly will not cross. But he’s also not one to give up an opportunity. And when no one is technically hurt, is it really crossing a line?

Besides he likes to think of himself as opportunistic. 

So when he slipped the goggles back on, he mentally prepared the excuse of doing one final check of the city. And if the goggles opened in on McKay’s …. 

quarters, huh. Not the lab and not entirely expected, he thought with an interested shrug. Then he turned around as the doors opened and Rodney barged in, like he did time he entered a room. Tired and stretching unused muscles, he dropped his laptop on the desk, the tablet on the table, his earpiece and some small device on the arm of his small sofa. Some people, John noted, stripped their clothes as they entered a room. Rodney stripped himself of technology. 

He watched Rodney roll his neck, pull his arms behind his back and stretch out those muscles. He listened as Rodney let out a sigh and dropped his head back. And, John noted, pull his shirt tight against his front. Then Rodney bent at the waist and pulled downward, pulling those muscles as well. And, John coughed silently, stretching his pants tight over his backside.

Rodney looked up and made eye contact with John, which was impossible but for a second John could have sworn the smirk was directed at him. Instead Rodney walked, eyes on his, towards him then through him towards the bathroom.

John released a breath and shook his head. He was an idiot. The shower started and he realized this was the line of perversion. He debated and actually felt bad about how long that debate went on, then almost felt as guilty about which side he’d ended up on. But he was already walking towards the bathroom when he heard Rodney start humming again. Ring of Fire, and really, that wasn’t fair. 

John wiped his hands on his pants, he supposed virtually although he felt the dampness on his legs, and took the final few steps towards McKay’s bathroom. Steam was drifting into the room and it took a moment for him to realize why he wasn’t tasting the humidity. This goggle reality was a ride on the senses. 

Then he saw Rodney, running the soap over his chest and down his torso. How did John forget, every time, how in shape his scientist was? Rodney might not have six pack abs but he was muscular and defined. And right now he was running the bar of soap over his chest and the sparse hair there. He slid his hand lower until he was cupping himself and closing his eyes; yeah, John should totally not be moving closer. 

He really shouldn’t be moving to stand next to the small shower stall. He definitely shouldn’t be licking his lips and staring at McKay’s mouth, or the small ‘O’ shape that out was making. His hands shouldn’t be flexing and itching at his side to touch skin; his mouth shouldn’t be watering to lick where Rodney’s neck was laid bare. 

He swallowed and watched Rodney close his eyes and bite he lip, he leaned against the wall and presented himself totally. To John. 

Who wasn’t really there. 

To be fair, John did consider leaving. He considered taking the glasses off, leaving them in the science lab with a note, and walking away. And that should count for something. But then Rodney groaned and his voice hitched, his hand tightened and sped up.

“Fuck,” Rodney whispered, “Fuck, yeah, John. Right there.”

And, really, a man can’t be expected to leave when another man was jacking off for…to him. So he stayed. And watched. And licked his lips when Rodney bit his, spread his legs when Rodney whimpered and slowed his hand. He felt himself getting hard to Rodney’s gasps, to Rodney spreading his legs further apart and pressing back against the wall. He leaned forward and cursed that he couldn’t step in when Rodney abandoned his leaking cock to run his nails over one nipple and his stomach before moving to the other nipple and back down. 

Rodney moaned, gripped his cock, and went to town. Hard and fast and captivating. He came with John’s name and a curse on his lips, and his chest sucking in steam and air. 

Rodney stayed for a moment, head leaning back against the wall and gasping, his body on full display for John to reach out for. Rodney swallowed, then dunked his head under the spray of the water and finished bathing himself, carefully around his sensitive cock. But, John noted, not too carefully if the gasp and shudder were anything to go by. 

Rodney finished drying himself, then walked through John again to get into his room. He promptly, and nakedly, fell on top of his bed and fell asleep. His soft snoring echoing in the room and slowly the lights dimmed around them. 

John reached out to touch him, to run a hand over McKay’s back down to his too-pert-for-a-scientist ass. Then stopped. Because he wasn’t here.

John felt sick and ripped the goggles off, threw them on the floor then flinched when he was sure he heard something snap. What kind of man, what kind of friend, watched a friend jerk off? 

His own cock pressed against this pants, desperate and leaking, but he ignored it. Until he couldn’t. He pressed the heel of his hand against his cock, then molded his hand against the angry length. Fuck, he thought, then unzipped and thought of McKay. 

He came, eyes shut and Rodney’s show in his mind. He opened his eyes and knocked his head back against the wall. 

Well.

Fuck.


	2. Holding the Line

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rodney tries to bask in the orgasm from his show the previous night when idiot scientists start breaking his city. He has to fix and, oh yeah, Sheppard has to join.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm hoping to make this thing 5 parts, but who knows. I had wanted to pick up the sexy times in this chapter but, alas, fires.

Rodney stretched back, felt something very painful pull in his leg, and quickly rolled on to his back. He rubbed the muscle in his thigh. Pain aside, he felt relaxed. He ran a hand over his bare chest and scratched his belly. The only thing better than waking from a good orgasm was waking from a great one, and that usually required two people. Two present people, he amended, because technically there were two people last night. Kind of. 

But, yeah, he was relaxed. Oh, and cold. A man in his position couldn’t normally afford to sleep naked. He needed to be ready for anything: for the wraith, for an explosion, for a meltdown of cosmic and microscopic proportions. He needed to be ready to fix the mistakes of idiots in the city. Rodney bundled the comforter tightly around him and glanced at the clock. He had about twenty minutes before anyone anticipated him being up and angry so he allowed himself the indulgence of snuggling back down into the blanket and replaying last night in his head. He wasn’t surprised when he felt the tingling and tightening in his belly and lower. 

Objectively he knew that guilt should be one of the emotions running through his head, in fact it should be one of the top five. But right now he wasn’t being objective. And right now he didn’t really care. What he cared about was thinking about Sheppard, watching John watching him. Transfixed by him. And there was no other word. John Sheppard had been transfixed by Rodney McKay. He licked his lips, trailed his fingers down his stomach and hand run the length of his cock then froze when the earpiece across the room squawked and a tiny voice screamed. He could hear Zelenka from here. 

Ugh. There were days he hated being a genius.

And, again, why he didn’t have the luxury of sleeping au natural. 

He scrambled, his toga-comforter sliding down, to the sofa and he cursed himself for leaving it there last night. 

“What?!” he yelled, pulling the comforter back up. A man also didn’t just answer calls in the buff, he cursed and listened as Radek frantically talk about one of the power junctions near the botany labs. Rodney was already pulling on his pants when he started falling; he dropped the earpiece and caught himself on the end of the bed, then slid down and picked the transmitter up, “Yes. Yes, alright, give me ten. Meet me there. Bring coffee.”

Rodney leaned his head against the bed, so much for lazily starting the day. And so much for ‘bumping’ into Sheppard at the breakfast line. He finished dressing, grabbed the device he’d dropped on the arm of the sofa, then his tablet, then his laptop. By the time he got to the door Dr. Rodney McKay was ready to face the Pegasus galaxy. Or the idiots who claimed to be tops of their field in Atlantis. Or both as it turned out. 

He reached the botany lab in nine minutes and found Radek already shoulder deep inside one of the walls. The Czech was cursing and blindingly reaching for tools outside of the wall. Rodney knelt beside him and squeezed his head in beside Radek’s which caused another string of curses and Radek’ rubbing his head and Rodney checking the integrity of the wall. And checking for a Radek-shaped indentation. 

“Rodney,” Radek yelled, “For God’s sake.”

“I told you to meet me,” Rodney replied, his head still in the hole, “Not start without me.” He didn’t have to look to see Zelenka roll his eyes. He heard a few tools bumping into one another then Radek was back with him; two scientists, one hole, a thousand identical wires, and five crystals. 

Radek poked one of the wires and both men flinched when it sparked, almost angrily at them. “This is from the botany alterations Kingston made last week.”

Rodney nodded and rolled onto his back. He so wasn’t built for this, “Why am I surrounded by idiots?” 

“Luck of the draw,” Radek replied automatically then shifted so that he awkwardly had one leg between Rodney’s and his chest was bumped Rodney’s chin. “I hold, you fix.”

Rodney hummed and moved so that his shoulders were now fully inside the wall. And his chin was Radek-free.

“How did your experiment go?” Radek smirked, a twinkle in his eye as he looked down.

Rodney didn’t even glance at him, his focus on the wires dangling in front of his face. Above his eyes. His very precious eyes. “No clue what you’re talking about.”

“You know, Rodney, the point of a bet is not to force the result.”

“I’ll have you know—”

“Oh,” Sheppard’s grin was evident even through the wall and both scientists froze. Rodney pleaded silently, Radek rolled his eyes. “You know, when people say get a room they usually mean a whole room. Not just some hole in middle of a busy hallway, but whatever works for you guys.”

Radek slinked out and Rodney grabbed the wires before the fell the wiggled out as far as he could without losing his grip. “Radek! Wires!”

Chastised, Radek slipped back in and grabbed the now actively sparking wires from Rodney’s hand. Rodney swallowed and sat with his back agains the wall, looked up at Sheppard. Yeah, he looked like rested. And possibly guilty. Sheppard flicked a look at Rodney’s soot-covered hands (and lower?) then back up. Possibly guilty and intense.

“What happened,” John asked and crouched so they were eye-level. And, yeah, Rodney struggled to not lick his lips. John did though, and damn Rodney couldn’t help but flick a glance.

“We think something from the botany lab is creating a feedback against some repairs done the other week,” Rodney said, trying to maneuver back in beside Radek and if he, happened, to thrust his hips slightly more than necessary … well, it was a very confined space and hard to get back into. He needed to work around the immoveable mass that was Radek. He heard John cough and caught Radek’s eye roll and smirk. 

“You guys need anything for me? I could get one of my men to lend a hand,” John offered. It sounded like he’d stood up but Rodney couldn’t be sure. 

“No, Colonel,” Radek answered. “We should be done shortly.”

“Twenty minutes,” Rodney corrected, “Gimme twenty minutes. Tell Woolsey I won’t be too late to the meeting.”

John didn’t reply, just knocked his foot against Rodney’s than left. Rodney let out a breath then flinched when the air movement caused some of the sparks to fire against Radek’s neck. 

“Rodney!” Radek screeched and pulled back. “I understand your need to --”

“Sorry. Nope, not right now, Radek.” Rodney rushed, then more quietly. “Not in the middle of the hall.”

And that? That was his mistake. Radek got the evil glint in his eye and leaned closer. “But Rodney, whatever are you talking about? We are just scientists, yes? Working on a project.” Rodney glared, pulled a wire and twisted it 90 degrees. “But, perhaps if someone were to add money to the bet that he is ruining for the rest of the team…” Radek trailed off with a smirk. “It is not fair to those of us who have been in this bet for months.”

“Are you serious?” Rodney asked, forgetting his annoyance. “Months?”

“You two are,” he wrinkled his nose, “How do I say this without disrespecting our favorite colonel? Worse than the time SA-4 came back with the pollen,” Rodney grunted but it came more as a huff, “Except they had the excuse of pollen. What is your excuse, Rodney?”

Rodney grabbed the sauter and focused on the wires, and focused on not ‘accidentally’ burning his second’s mouth shut. Radek smiled, the smile he reserved for ‘I’m-right-and-you-are-wrong’ moments. Which were few. Barely existent. Shouldn’t even have their own smile. God, Rodney hated Radek sometimes. 

He was, of course, late to the meeting. Woolsey, Sheppard, and Major Lorne were already in deep conversation when he bustled in. He sat down, spread his papers out, then froze when an alarm buzzed overhead.

“Are you kidding me?” he exclaimed, already running back out the door. He didn’t need to turn around to know that Sheppard was on his heels with Woolsey and Lorne shortly behind. He tapped his earpiece, still running to who knew where but the nearest transporter seemed smartest, “Radek. What the hell?”

“Lower floor,” Radek replied, any humor from the morning gone, “Is not good, Rodney. It appears the botany floor was not the only section affected by King…the repairs done.”

“Copy,” he waited for Sheppard then hit the transporter light for the lowest level, he saw Sheppard nod to the other men. He tapped his earpiece again, “Fire Kingston. Sheppard and I are on our way down, evacuate the two floors above.”

“Three,” Radek corrected, a moment passed then Radek chuckled, “You know, Rodney this is—”

“McKay out. Focus, Zelenka.” Rodney snapped, anger and embarrassment fighting for top attention. But he felt the heat rising up his neck, because yeah, this was exactly how Radek had described them finally ’getting together’. Rodney gave a mental eye roll because they weren’t some romance couple from some steamy novel running to save the city. 

He stormed off the transporter to save the damn city, and immediately saw the damage.

“Jeez,” Sheppard whispered form beside him. Apparently Mr. Fighter-Pilot-With-Fighter-Pilot-Vision also saw the damage. “Is that thing fire or are you guys hiding dragons down here?”

“It isn’t a dragon,” Rodney replied and tried not to laugh. This wasn’t funny. This was their city burning because of an idiot. He edged closer then pulled back when one of the flames burst up and out. The flames licked licked the area hotly, and it did look like a dragon. “You don’t have a spare fire extinguisher, do you?” 

Sheppard made a show of patting his pockets and chest, “Fresh out. Must be in my other pants.”

Rodney rolled his eyes and opened the cooling and fluid systems on his tablet. He frowned as the problem — or one of the problems — became readily apparent. The loop program had replicated causing overheating in two other sectors, although it didn’t look like they were at the ‘breathing fire’ stage. Jesus, he hated idiots. He tapped his earpiece and sent the data to Radek, ordered him to rewrite the program and send the batch out. And also ordered him to re-fire Kingston. 

“I’ll deal with this one,” he added and glanced at Sheppard. “You don’t need to stay.”

John shook his head and clapped a hand on his shoulder and squeezed, “Last thing I want is to explain to Woolsey why I left you to become a roasted marshmallow.”

Rodney rolled his eyes and crept closer barely noting that John hadn’t removed his hand, just moved it. Lower. And now wasn’t the time to focus on the warmth that spread from Sheppard’s hand. He bit the side of his lip and focused on the other warmth, the hellish warmth spreading from the literal flames. 

He took a step forward and immediately missed the contact. 

“So, what are you going to do?” John whispered from right behind him. Yeah, he might not have put a hand back but personal space was just a hypothetical theory to one Lt. Col. John Sheppard. And, damnit, Rodney thrived best when John was right there.

“I’m going to have to turn reroute the power, but I can’t do too remotely.” He turned back to John, “You really should get fire precautions down here.”

John made a face, “Yes. I will requisition fire safety on the next Daedalus run. And clarify its for the floor that has no tactical or scientific use.”

Rodney turned back towards the fire and crawled to the corner on his hands an knees, the fire hadn’t fully reached there yet and heat rose, right? 

He felt John’s knee bump his and Rodney nudged him, perhaps harder than necessary, “This isn’t a two person job, Colonel.”

“Yeah, McKay,” and god he hated (loved) the way John growled his name. “I know that. But it’s a you job, which means it’s a me job. Now get moving, I don’t want to end up in the infirmary because we took too long arguing.”

Rodney opened his mouth, then shut it. He crawled another foot then looked back and opened his mouth and raised a hand to make his point. God, he hated when Sheppard was right. He did the only thing he could think of, aside from panic. “Well,” he sniffed, coughed as he inhaled some smoke, and moved forward, “It would certainly take one of your To Do items off your list.”

John smirked in reply and, if anything, crawled closer to Rodney. They reached the corner panel and it took three times before Rodney could pull out the crystals, each slightly more singed than the next. He sucked in a breath and tried not to let his hands shake as he reached in. He didn’t pay attention to the shuffling behind him, figured John had finally wised up and crawled away, then he felt a slight temperature drop. He looked over and saw John’s jacket being held up between him and the flames. When he looked back John beside him with his knees spread slightly apart, arms reaching around Rodney and shrugging, “I’m not good at doing nothing. And that looked hot.”

Rodney glanced down, swallowed and nodded, then got to work. He removed the left farthest crystal and examined it, then flipped it and slid it back into place. It was a start. He switched two other crystals and removed the final one, the one that was by far the worst hit by the shock of electricity. He was toast. He slid it into his pocket and looked up. The fire had, at least, stopped growing. He pulled out his tablet and began typing while watching the crystals react. He felt John shift behind him and worried that a) the damned jacket was going to catch on fire, and b) that John’s arms were going to give out. And, yeah, it was a small help. It stopped him from being-on-fire hot to a more standing-next-to-an-active-volcano hot (both of which he’d experienced, thank you very much). 

He began to type the new program, carefully watching the crystals so they didn’t overheat from the lack of conduction with the missing crystal. He activated the program and listened, relieved and nearly giddy, as the Atlantean water system clunked into action and smothered the flames. He laughed and fell back, knocking against Sheppard’s leg and not caring. 

“I am a genius,” he panted and moved to lean against the wall. It was hot, still nearly burning, but he was too exhausted to move. Beside him John had dropped his very singed jacket and laid his head down on his knees. 

“Sometimes McKay you’re worth keeping around,” he mumbled and turned his face, grinning like an idiot, towards him.

Rodney scoffed, “You always want me around, Sheppard.”

John nodded, “Yeah, I do.”

Rodney smiled and nodded, then rolled to a stand and pulled John up with him. 

“So, what’s next on the big, important, military commander’s schedule?” Rodney asked as they walked back to the transporter. He brushed some soot and, god, he hoped that washed out. This was one of his favorite shirts.

“Back to Woolsey to explain, then meeting with Lorne. What’s on the schedule for the genius scientist?” 

Rodney shrugged, “Lab to yell at Zelenka. Shower. Definitely shower. Then lunch. Jesus, I haven’t even eaten yet.” As he said it his stomach flipped and his hands began to shake. Adrenaline, fear, and hypoglycemia were not good partners, it seemed. 

John pulled a power bar from his pocket and handed it over. “Shower first, you smell like a camp fire doused in bacon.”

Rodney shrugged and munched, then glanced over, he tapped the science lab transporter. “You still have those goggles?”

John shifted on his feet but kept his eyes on the transporter doors, “Yup.”

Rodney nodded and rolled onto his toes and back, suddenly feeling lighter than a man who just faced a fiery death ought to. “You should probably make sure they still work correctly.”

The transporter doors opened and Rodney sauntered out, then turned back, “Colonel.”

“McKay,” Sheppard answered slowly. The doors closed between them and Rodney finished the power bar where he was standing before running to the lab. He checked everything was running smoothly. He grabbed one of the commissary’s lunches-to-go and spent the rest of the day in his lab, smelling distinctly of bacon and smoke. He made the point of staying in the lab so that everyone, Kingston and his apologetic glances, could see (and smell) what he’d had to fix that morning. Sometimes lectures and humiliation didn’t work.

Out of the corner of his eye, throughout the day, he’d catch glimpses of Sheppard wandering his lab but tried to ignore the phantom colonel. He glanced at his watch and figured now was as good of a time as any, and he was still jittery and exhausted from earlier. He left Radek to finish his work with a nod, feeling the palm sized device in his pocket every few steps. 

Rodney hesitated at his door, felt for the device, then figured he’d already faced one fire today, why not face another? He marched through the doors.


	3. Blurring the Line

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John uses the goggles again, after McKay prompts him to -- with a smirk and a bite.

The transporter doors closed with McKay on one side, smirking around John’s protein bar, and John on the other side with the pieces starting to move closer together. Because, it couldn’t be. 

He updated Woolsey on the fire situation then rescheduled his meeting with Lorne, because if McKay smelled like a campfire with bacon he didn’t want to know what he smelled like. He checked in on McKay throughout the day, each time finding him busy in the lab with everyone obviously trying to not look. Kingston in particular kept not looking with apologetic glanced, John was sure he’d be on the next shipment out of Atlantis. After lunch he packed up and headed to his room. He needed a shower. And he needed to think. 

In his quarters he threw the goggles on the of his bed and stared at them. They were watching him. Taunting him. 

_Make sure the goggles are working correctly_ , McKay had said. There’d been a twinkle in his eye and a jittery confidence in his stance. John sat on the arm of the sofa, kicked off his shoes. And looked at the goggles. The damned goggles were working fine, he’d been checking them every hour since he’d left McKay. But there was something about the way McKay had said it, the twinkle and smirk. 

He tapped them with his foot and scratched his chest as he stared at them. _Make sure the goggles are working correctly_. He contemplated calling McKay and demanding answers that he was so close to figuring out on his own, then thought briefly about bypassing him and going directly to Zelenka. But that felt like cheating and, besides, he’d never hear the end of it. 

He grabbed the goggles then dropped them back on the bed. Shower first, McKay second. He glanced behind him one more them then stripped his way to the shower, and took the fastest shower known to man. 

With a towel around his waist he picked the goggles up and turned them on, and found himself standing in McKay’s room. Naked save for a scrap of cotton. Only, he wasn’t really there because Goggles. 

McKay was already done with his shower, a blue towel around his waist (and where had he gotten a blue, fluffy towel from??) and another around his shoulders. He was looking in the mirror but not at himself, his eyes were locked on John’s. He nodded and seemed to steady himself before turning to face John, resting his weight on the counter ledge. 

“Took you long enough,” McKay said. John opened his mouth to reply, then shut it. Because, again, not here so what the hell? Rodney held up a hand and finished drying his ears, then went into his room and came back with the device from the other night. It was palm sized and Atlantean gray, he made a show of looking at John and pressing the center until a blue light flickered and remained lit. He gestured towards John.

John stared. McKay looked at the device then back up and shook his head. He dropped the towel around his shoulders on the drying rack by the door but left the one at his waist. John had no choice but to follow him, watch as Rodney set the device on the beside table and lay down on the bed. 

He was lost. This wasn’t like last time. This wasn’t voyeuring, this wasn’t crossing the line. Rodney flicked a glance at him then stretched, the towel’s knot loosening with the movement. This was ignoring that a line existed. McKay was watching at him, taunting him.

John took the goggles off and found himself back in his room, his skin had cooled and the towel at his waist was uncomfortably damp. He still had some time before he needed to do a last check of the city. And, he had questions. He thought about tapping his earpiece and asking, but then thought back to McKay’s smirk earlier and set the goggles back on. Damp towel and bedsheets be damned. 

Immediately he was back in McKay’s quarters with McKay still on his bed. He momentarily looked both shocked and annoyed, then smug. Yeah, the man had answers and John was one step behind him. Rodney leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes, for all the world looking like he had no worries. Looking like they hadn’t just put out a fire that threatened the city, like he hadn’t just rewritten an Ancient code in under two minutes. It was a good look, and one that John didn’t get to see often but had a sudden wish that he could.

He took a step forward and glanced to the left, the bathroom mirror was steamy and blurry but clear so he knew he wasn’t there. Like the lab. He couldn’t be seen. But…

“At first I thought it was me.” Rodney said suddenly, eyes still closed, “I thought it was spending too much time together, I thought it was the adrenaline and survival endorphins.” He opened one eye, then closed it. “I thought it was the whole losing contact with Earth thing and locking onto whatever I could here. I thought I was going crazy.

“But then you’d do something so _you_. You’d do something so minuscule that it wasn’t just me. You’d look at me too long. You’d leave your hand on my back,” he pointed, “Like today. With the fire. You’d push me against a wall on a mission and press too hard, you’d stay too late in the lab when we both knew you had other work. You’d lean close and lick your lips,” he glared, “You’d lick those damned lips right in front of me, sometimes just inches away. And what was I supposed to do?”

John crossed his arms because suddenly he felt more naked than an invisible man should. He caught himself mid-lick and slipped his tongue back into his mouth. McKay ran a hand over his face and shook his head with a laugh. 

“Still nothing?” He opened his eyes and waited. “Fine. So I thought and I considered. I thought, Hm, what would it be like? I couldn’t help it. What would it be like to be the one pressing you against the wall, feeling your body tense and relax underneath me? What would it be like to be the one pulling your shirt loose and digging my nails into your skin as you leaned into me?” He turned until he faced John, “What would be like to be the one standing too close, feeling the heat from your body against me? We’d both be fresh from the shower, still wet and hot. I’d take a step too close and you’d stand your ground, wouldn’t you Colonel? What would it be like to whisper in your ear? To make you step back and open for me? What would it be like to be the one who loosened that towel,” Rodney waved a hand towards him, “the towel that is already hanging too low on your hips?”

John swallowed the answer and ran his hands over his thighs, he could feel his skin warming and sweat gathering at his neck and the rough cotton against his hands. His skin ran hot and his breath began to quicken. Rodney smirked, glanced down John’s body, pause, then rove back up. 

“The things I’d do to you. I’d take you apart, John,” he laughed and shook his head, “The things I’d let you do to me.” 

“Rodney,” John ground out and McKay immediately stopped. He looked at John and for a moment John was desperate to be there in the flesh. 

“John,” Rodney answered. But how? John took a step forward, then another until he’d almost reached the bed. 

Rodney watched him looking both hesitant and ready. He kept his eyes on John and a flush began to redden his chest and neck, climbing to his cheek. He slid one hand down his chest and bunched the other at his side. John watched the nerves settle into deliberate movements. 

“What would you do to me?” Rodney wondered, his breath catching mid-sentence. 

John licked his lips and took in the sight of Rodney McKay stretched out, naked and still damp, in front of him. For him. 

“Everything,” he whispered and reached out. His hand passed through the other man and he pulled back. He’d forgotten. He looked up at Rodney and saw him smiling and shaking his head. 

“Uh, uh.” Rodney smirked. “You can look but no touch. You don’t get to just have. For God’s sake, you haven’t been the one trying to find a way to test a theory for God knows how long.”

“Rodney,” John growled and threw the goggles off. Back in his room, then back in Rodney’s with the goggles secured back on. “Damnit.”

Rodney shrugged and raised an eyebrow, “I couldn’t be sure. You know,” he gestured between them. “Do you know what I’d do?”

John shook his head, mutely. 

“If you were here? Right now?” Rodney licked his lips and lowered one hand to wrap around his cock. “I’d press you against the wall. I’d breathe my way down your body,” John couldn’t help it. He bit his lip and fisted one hand because he could picture it. He could picture Rodney’s muscles pushing him back, his breath warming John’s skin as he trailed his way down. 

“And then?” he asked, ignoring how his voice deepened. He vaguely thought he’d about the bed, about laying beside Rodney while he listed what he’d do to John and suddenly he was there. His physical body spread on his bed, his virtual one beside McKay. Both mimicking the other man’s movements. 

“I’d get on my knees in front of you, John. I’d draw you out. I’d have you mouthing my name because you couldn’t get the words out.” Rodney was stroking himself now, slow and steady. He’s fingers brushing the head of his cock then tightening at the base. When he opened is eyes and looked over at John and saw John doing the same he groaned and spread himself more. “Yeah, I’d wait until you were nearly begging me, until your legs were weak and your hands fisting my hair. I’d make it wet, I’d make it hot. I’d moan around the feel of you in my mouth.”

John groaned and matched his hand to Rodney’s, he closed his eyes as he imagined the wet heat.

“No,” Rodney gasped, he stopped and let go of his cock; John growled and saw Rodney’s hard cock red against his belly. “You have to watch. Watch me, John. This time.”

John groaned then bit his lip when Rodney locked eyes with him and licked a strip along his palm, then that hand was back on his cock. “Christ, McKay,” John muttered and dropped his head back.

“Yeah, that’s what you’d do. You say my name just like that, you’d beg me to go faster.” John’s mouth watered. He could feel the electric flicks of want licking down his back, he squeezed as his hand and pulled just like Rodney. He could feel his orgasm tingling down his spine and his belly. God, this was too much. It wasn’t enough.

“Yeah, you’re close, aren’t you?” Rodney whispered. His head was back against the wall and he wasn’t even looking at John anymore; he spread his legs wider, bending one at the knee as he moved. He began rocking his hips into his hand, pumping his cock and blinding fisting the other one by his side. “God. I am, John, so close.”

Rodney’s orgasm was a string of curses and John’s name drawn out, ending with a whimper. John’s followed nearly immediately after, a muted gasp that left him arching off the bed and sucking in a breath with McKay’s name on it. 

They lay together until John looked over and the weight of this, of them, hit him. He’d crossed a line, they’d crossed a line. And he couldn’t give a damn. 

“So.” He mentally slapped himself. Eloquent. 

“So,” Rodney agreed. “Did you read the all of the files?”

John laughed, only Rodney would think of anything work related right now. “No, McKay, I didn’t read all of the files. I put the goggles on and masturbated to my best friend.”

Rodney at least had the decency to blush, a look John was already trying to figure out how to replicate over and over. “I meant about the goggles,” he said pointedly.

John shook his head, no. He had skimmed some graphs and words, but he’d been more interested in the toy itself. 

Rodney rolled his head to the side and looked at John, or the image of John, “We’re going to have to…talk. Right?”

John pointedly started straight up at a ceiling identical to his own. “Yup.”

“But not now.”

“Nope.” John waited then raised a hand to the goggles, a purposeful and cowardly way to get out of this situation. “Find me later, McKay.”

Before he could pull them off he heard Rodney choke a laugh, “I’ve already come for you twice, John. You need to find me.”


	4. Crossing the Line

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John finds Rodney.

He thought he’d have to wait hours, days even, because if he was being honest Lt. Col. John Sheppard was not a man who expressed himself easily. Unless he was expressing himself at paper targets, then he was vocal and quite expressive. So imagine his surprise when Sheppard was waiting, heels up and arms crossed, at his work station in the lab on his day off. On both of their day’s off. He looked asleep but Rodney knew better, sleeping men didn’t tap their feet. They also didn’t trust gravity enough to lean back on two chair legs.

“Colonel,” he said and waited for Sheppard to open his eyes. 

“McKay,” he replied lightly. Too lightly for Rodney’s comfort. And too awake. He smirked when Rodney glanced behind him, then to the sides. They were in the labs, this was public and during normal working hours. Another thing that Rodney knew about Lt. Col. John Sheppard was that the man was smart. Too smart to just waltz into his lab and pick up where they left off the night before. 

But he was also devious. The goggles were on the table in front of John and Rodney felt a ripple of awareness roll over him. Memories of last night and the night before flashed in his mind and Sheppard was looking at him the way he had then. Open, aware, lustful. 

“Something I can do for you?” he asked and his voice absolutely did not crack over the words. He walked around the other man and picked up one of the tablets from the table, looked at the goggles again then back to the tablet. “I’m a very busy man you know.”

Sheppard hummed and dropped his feet to the ground, then in a single motion the lab doors closed and McKay was pressed against the wall in the small space between two tables. He was trapped and Sheppard’s hand was pressed warmly on his chest. “Oh, I’m aware of how busy you are, McKay. Even on your day off, you’re a very busy man.”

Rodney did not lean forward, his fingers did not itch to touch just because Sheppard was right there. But Sheppard’s did. His other hand slid closer, over McKay’s, until it wrapped around his wrist up to his forearm. And Rodney, apparently the only one with a sense of reality, pointedly looked at the closed doors then back. He opened is mouth then shut it was Sheppard whispered, “They’re locked, Rodney,” he leaned closer, “and you did tell me to come and find you.”

The tablet fell on the ground between them and Rodney flinched at the resounding crack. If he was being honest, he couldn’t be sure if the flinch was from the crash and possible break or from Sheppard. He opened his mouth, one finger raised, then closed it again and dropped his hand. There was a solidity in Sheppard’s hand on his chest, a warmth that he didn’t think the lab would be the best place to start exploring. None of this was the right time or place to be exploring. 

“I did, yes,” Rodney agreed. “I didn’t think it would be at,” he made a show of looking at his watch, “0700. But I thank you very much for bringing back the device.”

“Is that how we’re playing it?” John asked, quietly. “You tear me apart, you rip away something I’ve been hiding, we’ve been hiding, and go back to normal? Scientist and soldier?”

His breath shook as he looked at Sheppard. 

“No,” he answered. “But here? In the lab? You want to talk about,” he gestured to the table just behind John, “that? This? Now?”

John rested his forehead against Rodney’s and stepped closer, pressed a leg against the inside of Rodney’s leg. “Yeah. I do. I’m tired, so tell me about the device, Rodney.” He looked up and he was too close, everything was just too close and too much, “And not what’s in the files. Tell me what this is.”

Sheppard stepped back, giving Rodney room, and suddenly the doors were opening and Zelenka, Mika, and Turner was hustling in. Only Radek gave any indication that Sheppard and McKay were in the labs when they shouldn’t be; he smirked, made eye contact with Rodney, and a raised his hand to show money owed. Damnit.. 

Rodney huffed, grabbed the goggles in one hand and Sheppard’s wrist in the other. He glared at Radek when they reached the door. “Call me for an emergency only. And,” he rolled his eyes upwards and released John’s wrist long enough to point at Radek, “look in the upper left drawer of my desk, you bohemian bookie mizera**.”

He barely heard Radek laugh (but he _did_ hear him laugh and that only made him speed up) and Sheppard’s confused question. He stormed passed a few scientists going to their labs and waited until they were in the transporter, then on the lower deck where Sheppard’s men and his own scientists had already cleaned up the mess from the day before, before releasing Sheppard’s wrist and stepped into the isolation of the corridor. 

“Rodney,” and, God, he hated what that growl did to him. 

“No,” he replied and pushed Sheppard once. “No growling. No,” he gestured, “posing. No pouting. No youing.”

Sheppard laughed and some of the tension in his back melted away. They were okay, they had crossed so many lines that at this point he didn’t even know where they were. Or what was next. But, at least, they were okay. 

“McKay,” John took a step forward, then another, and again Rodney found himself against a wall with 6’2” of John Sheppard in his space. He could happily stay in the warmth of John’s body, even as the risks of what they had been doing and were about to do ran through his mind. 

Rodney raised his hands. “What do you want me to say?”

“I want to know what is going on. I want to know why you gave me a device that made—”

“No. They didn’t make anything,” he felt the science and technology side take over, and the absolute confidence that went with them. He pushed John back a step and began to pace, rolling the blueprints and data in his mind. Because this? This he could talk about all day. The other thing? 

“Any time, McKay.”

“We knew it was a transmitter. Radek and I thought if we had instances where someone was on another planet or Wraith ship we could transmit information, but we need to test the device more.” He glanced up when John made a ‘carry on’ motion. “You have the most potent ancient gene and we wanted, needed really, to see where it could go and who it could focus on. Was it just people with the ancient gene? Was it proximity specific?”

“To your button thing,” John added.

That stopped him, he fingered the second half of the device in his pocket then tossed it to John. “It allows for audio. I think it was a way to communicate but that doesn’t make sense because only the person with the device can hear or see. We think. We, um, haven’t tested that part out. Much.”

“Oh, I think we did,” John countered, then had the indecency to lean against the wall and toss the button in the air and catch it. “And?”

“And what? You’re the one who was in charge of where the device took you.” Rodney stopped mid stride and pointed, “You’re the one that kept popping up in the labs like a bad penny. Then my quarters.”

“So you did see me. That first time,” John noted and Rodney could see the pieces fitting together in John’s mind. If he wasn’t panicked and annoyed and scared and excited, he’d find it beautiful. John Sheppard’s mind might not be as fast or eloquent as Rodney’s, but he could put the Ancient puzzle pieces together faster than half of Rodney’s science team and that in itself was a beautiful thing to behold. Sheppard held up the gray device and looked at it. “Because of this? It’s audio but also some kind of secondary transmission?”

Rodney nodded. “I didn’t realize it was imprinted to my gene until I saw you, I couldn’t test it with Radek and Carson refuses anything Ancient related. But I think it uses the user’s gene as a beacon, almost, and has something to do with wavelengths.” He coughed. Wavelengths. That sounded right. 

John tapped his earpiece while Rodney was talking, “Lorne. Sheppard. I’m going to be offline for the next thirty minutes or so. McKay and I are looking into the fire from yesterday.” He paused and Rodney waited, looking around at the nearly perfect corridor. If he didn’t know any better, he wouldn’t know a fire had even happened. “No, nothing’s wrong. He wants to run some diagnostics on his downtime and I’m here to make sure he doesn’t blow anything up. Again.”

“Hey!” Rodney outraged, “I didn’t—” He stopped at Sheppard’s look, then muttered, “I didn’t blow anything up.”

“Copy,” Sheppard tapped his earpiece then indicated Rodney do the same. He called Radek and could hear the patronizing disbelief on the other end of the line. Of course, testing the already tested code and circuitry. Of course. And on his day off? What a generous man their Rodney was. 

God, he hated that man. 

“So,” he said after he disconnected. 

“So, Wavelengths. Right. But what about after?” John took a step forward. “The first night when you knew I was there.” Rodney took a step back, and seriously how small were these hallways? His back hit the wall with a soft thud. “You knew I was in the room.” John licked his lips and looked at Rodney’s. “You know I was watching you, McKay.”

“Yeah, I knew,” he whispered and suddenly the room was on fire again. Metaphorically that is, but still his skin burned hot and sweat gathered at his collar. He was desperate to move his muscles and wipe a hand over his neck. “And you stayed.”

“Yeah, McKay,” and John was definitely looking at his lips, his eyes, then back down to his lips. “Yeah, I stayed.”

John didn’t wait. He closed the space between them, pressing his body against Rodney’s and cupping Rodney’s neck to get a better angle. Then they were kissing, lips moving and pressing against one another. John’s tongue licking against lips, John’s body pressing Rodney closer against the wall. 

And Rodney responded immediately. He never wanted to leave this corridor. He wanted to instill a plaque on this spot. He wanted … too much because this was real, this wasn’t some hologram or ancient device. This was John Sheppard and Rodney McKay touching, groping, digging into one another. He moved with John, like they always did, together in almost seamless motion. His fingers reached out to hook through John’s belt loops and pull him even closer, his leg pressed against Sheppard’s and one of them moaned against the other. He struggled for breath but kept licking and biting John’s lips, his jaw, anything he could get. 

Finally, John pulled back and rested his forehead against Rodney’s and breathed. His lips were swollen and his breath, Rodney was pleased to note, was ragged. He was smiling, and Rodney really needed to find every way to make John smile like that every damned day and every night. 

“I don’t know what to do with you, McKay,” John said quietly and Rodney gripped his waist, felt the muscle tighten under his fingers and felt John lean into the touch. John’s hands went to either side of Rodney and this time it was Rodney who moved; pressed a kiss against John’s lips. 

“I think I’ve made it blatantly clear, Colonel. Anything.”

John laughed, “You can’t say this to a guy. He starts getting ideas.”

“Ideas? Didn’t we go through some of those last night?” Rodney asked. He slid his hand from John’s waist to thigh, then over until he felt the hard line of John’s erection. He squeezed his hand down the hot length and felt his mouth water and his legs spread in response. “Some of us have had ideas for a long time.”

John nodded, his nose bumping against Rodney’s and the movement seemed too intimate for the middle of a well lit hallway. This entire moment was too much for 0720. 

“Do you know what I’d do?” John whispered and Rodney had a flashback to them on his bed, Rodney’s cock in his hand as he’d ask John the same question. He felt himself harden and moved to adjust himself then groaned when John pressed harder against him. “If we were in my quarters? Or yours? The things I’d do to you, Rodney. I’d take you apart. Slowly, until you couldn’t even say my name.”

Rodney swallowed and bit his lower lip between his teeth. He watched Sheppard’s mouth, his tongue slide out to lick his lips. Those words, _his words_ , played back were a hell of a lot hotter coming out of John Sheppard’s mouth. “Nothing stopping you.”

“A lot of things are,” John admitted.

“They don’t have to.”

John pulled back, took a step back and look from McKay to the transporter and for once Rodney had no idea what was happening in that brain.

“It’s our day off, right?” John asked, one hand had found itself to Rodney’s back and was pressing him away from the wall and towards John. Rodney nodded, mutely. “It’s play hooky, Rodney. See what the real thing is like.”

He tossed Rodney the device and Rodney looked at it, the stupid experiment that had changed his life. At the transporter John tapped the light for their floor then looked over, “Why is Zelenka a bohemian bookie bastard?”

Rodney laughed and shook his head, “I’ll tell you after,” he gestured into the hallway after the doors opened. “Just … after. Also you might want to pay him $20.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> According to my ~~never inaccurate~~ translator, Google Translate, Mizera means bastard/rascal. I apologize if this is, in fact, untrue.
> 
>  


End file.
